It was the 5-star running back’s first college football practice, in fact. The Alabama football team practiced once in the spring before going on spring break.

“We saw he had the hips, he had the speed, he had the agility to make big plays in this league, and we saw (Saturday) night he got off to a good start and we’re looking forward to him doing that the rest of the year,” Williams, a fifth-year senior tight end, said Monday.

“We’ve got a lot of screens, when there’s nothing on downfield. We harp on throwing the check downs, so running backs have to catch a lot on offense, and if they don’t, they wouldn’t play.

“His catching ability is pretty good.”

Yeldon showed an ability to gain yards after contact. That’s a good trait of all of Alabama’s running backs.

“We always tell our backs, ‘You got one to beat,’” Williams said. “And most of the time, we feel like our backs will beat that one safety or that one corner or whoever they have to beat in that one-on-one situation.

“We’ll cover up the down lineman and the linebackers, and they got one to beat. In the past that’s been real good for us.”